ABSTRACT
Carolyn Costin uses the term 'cultural canaries in the coal mine' to describe individuals who, in pursuit of cultural ideals, develop eating disorders. When loosely applied, yoga philosophy can be co-opted by the very 'disordered-self' that each woman in recovery must overcome. The Panchamaya Kosha Model of yoga offers a treasure map that modern women are missing from their lives. It outlines how to nourish and heal our whole being by working on and through five layers or Koshas, with soul-self nestled in the center: Anamaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vijnanamaya Kosha, Anandamaya Kosha. Historically, women came together in the red tent to attend the major transitions in their lives, birth, menarche, childbearing, menopause and death, as well as tend to the monthly cycle of their fertility years. Fresh from the micro-culture of treatment, women often immediately felt the toxic common culture chipping away at them.
